Weekend Words: Name
In light of J.K. Rowling's undercover success, Weekend Words wonders, what's in a name?
Two excerpts from “Rowling Book Skyrockets to Instant Hit” by Julie Bosman (The New York Times, Wednesday, July 16, 2013):
“’It has been wonderful to publish without hype or expectation, and pure pleasure to get feedback under a different name,’ she said.”
“In the meantime, the book has risen to No. 1 on Amazon’s best-seller list. And copies of the first edition of “The Cuckoo’s Calling” in hardcover are floating around eBay at considerable markups: on Tuesday afternoon one copy in Britain had risen to more than $2,300, with 67 bids. Another copy in the United States was available for a more modest $41, with shipping costing $3.99.”
As Juliet Capulet wondered, what’s in a name?
“The devil’s name is dullness.”
—Robert E. Lee
“What surrounds us we endure better for giving it a name – and moving on.”
—E. M. Cioran
“The creations of a great writer are little more than the moods and passions of his own heart, given surnames and Christian names, and sent to walk the earth.”
—William Butler Yeats
“Action without a name, a who attached to it, is meaningless.”
—Hannah Arendt
“The ideal has many names, and beauty is but one of them.”
—W. Somerset Maugham
“What is popularly called fame is nothing but an empty name and a legacy from paganism.”
—Desiderius Erasmus
“Chaos is a name for any order that produces confusion in our minds.”
—George Santayana
“The name Sissy came because my brothers called me that.”
—Sissy Spacek
“‘I have no name;
I am but two days old.’
What shall I call thee?
‘I happy am,
Joy is my name.’
Sweet joy befall thee!”
—William Blake, “Infant Joy”
